A man wondering in the woods was caught in a bad storm. It was very dark, and the only light
he had was from the flashes of lightening which were followed by deafening thunder. He fell to
his knees and prayed, "Lord, if it will be all right with you, please give me more light and less
noise." This should be the standard prayer of believers when wondering through the dark woods
of controversy. In a religious argument the louder the noise the less anyone has a chance to see the
light and learn anything. A Christian controversy should always be kept in the realm of light and
not sound.
Man is made in the image of God with an infinite capacity for variety. Each man has a unique
individuality that he is to develop for the glory of God. This means men will differ in their likes
and dislikes; in their tastes and interests ; in their personalities, and everything imaginable. The
glory of man is that he is not like a herd of cattle or flock of sheep.
This blessing, however, leads to inevitable conflict of opinions. Differences are impossible to
escape, and unless people learn to accept differences they cannot live in association. You may
have heard the story of the three monks who lived in the woods and seldom spoke. One day a
knight came riding through the woods past their place of seclusion. About six months later one
monk said, "That was a beautiful black horse that knight was riding." About six months later
another monk said, "That was no black horse, it was white." Several months after that the third
headed for the door with his belongings in a bag. He said as he left, "If you two are going to
argue, I'm getting out of here."
Such an excessive dislike for disagreement would make it hard to live anywhere but alone. No
marriage can be happy even without an acceptance of the inevitability of differences. Richard
Armour may be putting it too strong, but he has a point that cannot be denied when he writes-
Some
Some hoist the windows, gasp for air,
While others find it chilly.
Some turn up thermostats a hair,
While others think them silly.
Some like cold, some like hot,
Some freeze, while others smother.
And by some fiendish, fatal plot
They marry one another.
Differences within marriage between two people who love each other are so common that it is a
mystery why anyone would ever expect conformity of views within a church where people of
every conceivable background and personality are mixed. There is no organization on earth that
includes a greater variety of people than the church. This means acceptance of differences is a
must for Christians. None is all wise but God, and none except God is wholly good. This then
makes it folly for the Christian to expect unity of belief or action on the part of men who are both
sinful and ignorant. Paul said at best we know in part, and this means every Christian is ignorant
about many things, and imperfect in all things.
Humility and honesty demands that Christians be tolerant of differing views among themselves.
Not to be tolerant is to set one's self up in pride as having reached the ideal. Even if this was true,
if we from our platform of perfection reject those who do not conform, we are not being Christ like
at all. Christ in His perfection does not reject the imperfect, but in love seeks to lift them to his
level. This means that if we cannot accept those whose opinions differ from ours, we are
sub-Christian and worldly. Many Christians who do not do all of the things we usually consider to
be worldly are still worldly because they live on the worldly level of pride which says, "If you
don't agree with me, you are wrong, and I am not interested in you." This is worldliness at its
worst, for it is being sub-Christian in the inner man where Christ is to reign as Lord.
Paul makes it clear in this passage that both the strong and weak in faith are in danger of
slipping to a sub-Christian level. The issue here is not to determine who is right and who is wrong,
for the fact is you can be wrong even if you are right if your attitude is wrong. If your attitude
toward a fellow believer is not one of acceptance, and open-minded toleration of his differing
conviction, than you are wrong and sub-Christian even when your particular conviction on the
issue is right, and the one God hopes all Christians will come to in full maturity.
A Christian must be one who is concerned, not just about the truth in a conflict, but about the
person he disagrees with, for if he is right about the truth but wrong in his attitude toward his
opponent, he is still missing the boat and is out of God's will. It is never enough to be right, for we
must also be loving.
Paul says in I Cor. 13:2, "If I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge,
and if I have all faith,so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." Tom Westwood
points out that of 16 chapters in Romans Paul devotes one and a half chapters to the issue of
Christian dealings with other Christians with whom they disagree. He rightly concludes, "I believe
we have altogether underestimated the magnitude of Christian courtesy and consideration." We are
studying this passage in detail in order to magnify in our minds the importance of Christians courtesy in
controversy.
In verse 2 Paul states the position of the strong believer. He believes he can eat anything. This
does not mean he thinks he is a superman who can eat nails and arsenic without injury. It simply
means he feels that no food is defiling and, therefore, forbidden. He accepts the words of Christ
that it is not what goes into a man but what comes out that is defiling. Peter had to learn this truth
that all that God has made is clean. Paul warned Timothy about those who would come urging
Christians to obtain from meats, and he rejects this and writes in I Tim. 4:4, "For everything
created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it is received with thanksgiving."
The strong Christian, therefore, has a solid Biblical foundation for his feelings of liberty from
all rules and regulations concerning his diet. He will not go hungry for any sacred cow as do
millions in India. He will not give up meat because of some fear of contamination from an idol.
He may give up certain things because they do not agree with him, or simply because he does not
like them, but he does not give up eating anything with the idea that he is thereby pleasing God.
He is convinced God is pleased with anything he eats if he does so with thanksgiving.
He says I can eat swine and love it even if the Jew gets squeamish at the very thought of it. Not
only that, he can eat it on Friday too, even if the Catholic gets nervous at that thought. Julicher
says, "He believes magnificently in the conception of the unfettered conscience of the believer."
He is at liberty to eat as he pleases without feeling obligated to any law. He gives God thanks and
enjoys it, and does not worry about any tradition or regulation. This was Paul's own personal
position. He gloried in his freedom from the bondage to the law, and encouraged others to do so.
He wrote in II Cor. 3:17 that, "...where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty." To the Galatians
he wrote in 5:1, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Paul was the Apostle of liberty, and he did not want
his life to be bound up by other people's superstitions and hang ups. He said in I Cor. 10:29, "For
why should my liberty be determined by another man's scruples."
There is no doubt as to where Paul stands. Here in verse 14 he says he knows and is persuaded
that nothing is unclean in itself. He knows the strong Christians are right, but Paul has one virtue
he places even above his liberty, and that is love. Therefore, he is not going to tell the strong
Christian he agrees with to sock it to the weak one who has scruples. Instead, he is going to warn
them about the very dangers they face in being on the right side of an argument. In verse 3 he
commands those who feel free to eat anything not to despise the brother who cannot. With all of
his strength this is where the strong Christian is weak. He has a hard time keeping from despising
those who do not have his light. In pride they feel all Christians should be where they are, and not
hung up on obsolete regulations.
Martin Luther felt this way when he was a Catholic priest. He wrote, "Nobody cares whether
perjury, lies, or slander are committed, even on holidays. But if somebody eats meat or eggs on
the sixth day of the week people are stunned. This is how silly almost everyone has become
nowadays." Luther was among the strong believers of his day, but his danger was that in his
strength he would despise those who were weak. It is natural for the strong to do so, but Paul says
a Christian is not to be natural, or live on the level of the natural man. He is to love and not
despise those believers who have hang ups that obstruct Christian liberty.
A strong Christian has to have the mind of Christ, and distinguish between the sinner and the
sin. Jesus despised sin, but loved the sinner. So a Christian is to distinguish between the person
and the position. The strong Christian can despise the position of a weak believer, but he dare not
despise the person holding it, or he loses the advantage of his liberty, and becomes sub-Christian.
In other words, no matter how silly and foolish I think another Christian's convictions are, I am
obligated to love them as a brother in Christ.
Now lets look at the position and danger of the weak Christian. In verse 2 Paul says the weak
Christian eats vegetables. He is so sensitive about defiling himself with meat offered to idols that
he just gives up eating meat altogether. That sounds like a noble sacrifice, and it would seem that
such a believer would be commended for his commitment to remain undefiled. He is considered
the weak one, however, because he has sacrificed his liberty in Christ for the sake of the law. It is
no virtue to be fussy where God is not. To abstain from something that God does not forbid is to
add laws to life which hinder ones liberty in Christ. Men who do this reveal a weakness in their
faith, and reveal that they depend upon the law as a crutch. It is easier to live under law than
under grace. Freedom and liberty in Christ demand a great deal of soul searching in making
decisions. Freedom is ambiguous, and one is left open to risk and mistakes. It calls for maturity
to be free and remain in God's will.
On the other hand, the man who depends upon law to regulate his life has it made. There is no
ambiguity, for it is all black and white and clear cut. There's no risk whatever, for all of the
thinking is done for you. Your mind is made up by rules, and all you have to do is follow the
rules. Your religious life is just a matter of following the rut that is cut out for you. This is the
religion of the immature and the weak. The sin is not in being weak, however, but in judging and
condemning the strong for their liberty which they do not understand. The weak feel they have
Scripture on their side, and they can quote Ex. 34:15 where God warns against eating with the
Canaanites lest they eat meat offered to idols. Here was a clear command, and the strong
Christians were violating it. They felt justified in judging the strong, but Paul says it is wrong to
do so, for God has accepted them.
Many of God's children feel that many others of his children are to liberal and do not deserve
to be in His family. They judge them and say they are not children of God. This is a great evil
that Paul is fighting. Karl Barth wrote, "Weak is the man who allows himself to be pushed into a
position from which he judges others. Who is the Lord? Who has authority to judge? Who has
power to exalt or cast down? Man or God?" If God receives the strong, who are you to condemn?
The weak have a tendency to condemn, for it is their only weapon of defense. In a debate reason
will not support their position, and so they have to shout condemnation for support.
Have you ever had one of your children come and demand that another of your children deserves
punishment, and if you don't do it they get mad? They feel you should take their side and
vindicate them by judging the other. You would be a foolish parent to judge on the basis of your
children's judgment. So God would be foolish to judge His children on that basis as well. Paul
says God welcomes the strong who lives on the level of liberty in Christ. God delights in this kind
of Christian. Paul warns the weak to stop playing God and leave judgment to Him who is God.
The weak Christian needs to learn the attitude expressed by Walter Van Kirk who said, "I will
attribute to those who differ with me the same degree of sincerity that I claim for myself." Both
the weak and the strong need to learn this. One is sincerely right, and the other is sincerely wrong,
but both are acceptable to God because the weakness is in a non-essential area of life. Whatever
camp you are in, Paul demands that you live in love, and accept both the strong and the weak.
